Council of Google Plus: Heresy Report

The Wolves of Jesus’17

Part Two

by John Wilkinson

This week we will be looking at Kenneth Max Copeland (born December 6, 1936) is an American author, musician, public speaker, and televangelist associated with the Charismatic Movement. Copeland has been identified with preaching a prosperity and abundance message, commonly referred to as the prosperity gospel, which has been criticized by various denominations.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries owns quite a lot of assets throughout Fort Worth, TX. with 33 acres and was valued at $554,160 in 2008 by Tarrant Appraisal District. The site includes the Eagle Mountain International Church, television production and audio recording facilities, warehouse and distribution facilities, residences for the Copeland family, and Kenneth Copeland Airport. Approximately 500 people are employed by KCM.

In February 2007 Copeland was accused of using his ministry’s Citation X (a Cessna 550 Learjet) for personal vacations and friends. The Copelands’ financial records are not publicly available, and a list of the board of directors is not accessible as these details are protected but known confidentially by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Kenneth Copeland Ministries has taken advantage of a Federal Aviation Administration program that keeps flights private from tracking websites, and the ministry owns five such aircraft whose flights are kept private, including the Cessna 750 Citation X note above and a North American T-28 Trojan. The United States Senator Chuck Grassley has questioned some of the flights taken by these aircraft, including layovers in Maui, Fiji, and Honolulu. The ministries say that the stopovers were for preaching or for allowing pilot rest. According to the Washington Times, Kenneth Copeland (and another televangelist Jesse Duplantis), has defended his “use of private jets as a luxury means of travel, arguing that commercial planes are full of ‘a bunch of demons'” (Riiiiiiiiggggghhht…)

I can go on for pages over the numerous controversies that Kenneth Copeland and his ministry have caused, but I’m impatient and really like to get to the meat of things. The following video is Kenneth on stage asking for his “seed money” when all of the sudden something happens to him. He develops a blank stare and then goes into an eerie tongue speaking rant that should frighten you. I say this because it is my opinion that he becomes demon possessed right on stage. Then after he talks for awhile, he changes his demeanor to back to a somewhat normal countenance.

I believe that Mr. Copeland’s teachings do reveal that he is, as you say, a wolf. However, I’m sorry to say, a reader unfamiliar with Mr. Copeland would have very little to take away from the above article as evidence of that claim. He has an affinity for planes, certainly. But having a private plane may make economic sense. And tropical vacations are not themselves signs of carnality. Beside the innunedo of wrongdoing, you don’t prove that he is wasting resources.

I’m particularly concerned that your main argument against the man, the meat of the issue as you say, is that his strange behaviour is indicative of his demonic possession. Perhaps he is; I certainly agree he is a wolf, as stated above. But it seems that you’re argument for his demonic possession is fallacious, as it asserts the consequent, in the form below:

Feel free to leave the article as is. But perhaps it would be worthwhile to interact with Mr. Copeland’s teachings. For example, you could detail how Mr. Copeland has continuously, consistently, and unrepentantly conflated God’s being with Man’s – he says that we are in the same class of being as God, that we should pray to ourselves, that when God says I AM, that we can say I AM TOO. Would this not be better evidence of his union with Satan?

(Also, $554k would only buy a medium sized house in the city in which I live – Is this value correct?)